Murder-for-hire suspect may have shot partner

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 2, 2008

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The El Sobrante man arrested on suspicion of murder for hire in the shooting death of his business partner in San Ramon may have pulled the trigger himself after a man he solicited refused to commit the killing, authorities said Thursday.

Reginald Robinson, 31, appeared Thursday in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez on charges of murder, murder for hire and being a felon in possession of a gun in connection with Sunday's slaying of Kashmir Billon, 42, of San Ramon. He did not enter a plea and was ordered to return to court May 8.

Robinson is being held at the county jail in lieu of $1.5 million bail.

Prosecutor Harold Jewett said Robinson, who has worked as a loan officer, and Billon, a mortgage lender, were involved in a dispute over a Richmond property with two homes that was to have closed escrow last Monday.

The deal was in Robinson's name and was being financed by Billon, Jewett said. Investigators believe there may have been a plot to sell the homes to a fictitious person and leave a bank "holding the bag" for hundreds of thousands of dollars, the prosecutor said.

Authorities are trying to determine whether Billon was aware of the alleged fraud.

"It's an open question how much Mr. Billon knew," Jewett said. But the prosecutor said Billon may have been killed because he learned about the apparent scheme and was trying to stop it.

On Friday, Robinson solicited another man to kill Billon, but that man declined, Jewett said.

Investigators say it's possible Robinson "took the matter into his hands" and shot Billon or managed to find a hit man to do the job, Jewett said.

"It's unclear to us who actually pulled the trigger," Jewett said. "What is absolutely clear to us is that Robinson set in motion a chain of events that resulted in Mr. Billon's death."

Police found Billon lying outside his bullet-riddled car on the 2600 block of Bishop Drive about 11 p.m. Sunday near the Bishop Ranch business park adjacent to Interstate 680. He would have turned 43 two days ago.

The man who declined to kill Billon contacted authorities after he saw news reports about the slaying, Jewett said.

"He saw an extreme wrong being committed and decided to do the right thing," the prosecutor said. Jewett said the man had not gone to police earlier because "he didn't believe the defendant was going to follow through with this."

Jewett said the man had spent time in prison but was now "gainfully employed." He declined to identify him.

Robinson's attorney, Adanté Pointer, said that "whatever (police) think they have, they're not even sure about that."

Pointer said the man who told authorities that Robinson had solicited him for murder was a convicted felon. "Who knows what this person has to gain," he said.

"This is just a tragedy on all sides," Pointer said. "You have two family men. One guy was tragically taken away, and now you have another whose life is in jeopardy."

He said the men appeared to have had an amicable relationship, with no evidence of any "falling outs over business transactions. They have made money together in the past and would have made money together in the future."

The victim's brother, Harv Billon, 37, of San Ramon, said, "Kash was very trusting, very honest. He was a legitimate person. He built his business from the ground up. I just think this guy was a con. He befriended Kash ... and turned on him."

He expressed anger that Robinson came to his brother's home a day after Billon was killed to mourn with the family.

In exchange for his no-contest plea in that case, prosecutors dropped charges of forgery and manufacturing false government identification.

The conviction stemmed from an incident in June 2003, when Robinson tried to open an account at a Wells Fargo bank in South San Francisco with a fake driver's license and Social Security number.

Robinson said he had committed the crime because he was going through a divorce and "wanted to hide some of his money from his wife's attorney," Administrative Law Judge Diane Schneider wrote in her decision revoking his license.